Culver City Considers 11% Surcharge on Cellular Phones : Finances: Officials say the tax would add $60,000 to beef up some services, such as park supervision.

Culver City may soon join the growing list of Los Angeles County communities that tax cellular phone users.

The City Council two weeks ago voted 3 to 2 to tentatively approve an ordinance that would extend an 11% utility users tax to cellular telephone users with a Culver City billing address. The tax would cost Culver City users an average of $4 annually.

Councilmen Steven Gourley, Edward Wolkowitz and Mike Balkman voted in favor of the tax; James D. Boulgarides and Mayor Albert Vera opposed it. The council will vote again on the tax July 18.

City officials said the additional revenue from the cellular phone tax would allow the city to beef up some services, such as park supervision.

A growing number of cities, including Santa Monica, Malibu and Los Angeles, have implemented cellular phone taxes in recent years. Los Angeles and Santa Monica both impose a 10% tax; Malibu’s is 5%.

Based on reports that some of those cities have seen a 2.5% to 4% increase in revenue from the taxes, Culver City officials estimated an initial $60,000 annual boost in revenue to the $43.8-million budget for the 1994-95 fiscal year.

The tax would go into effect by Oct. 1, after the phone company sets up a billing system. In the future, officials said the city could expect an additional annual revenue of $80,000, based on the extension of the tax to other mobile communications services--a catchall phrase meant to encompass future developments in communications.

The tax would be based on the standard fixed monthly access charge, said Candice Maloney, a spokeswoman for L.A. Cellular, one of the larger companies providing cellular phone service to Culver City. “For instance, if a customer has a plan where they pay $69 for 100 minutes, the $69 would be taxed. It has nothing to do with how much they use the phone, or where they call. Air time and usage is not taxed,” she said.

So far the company has not received any complaints from customers, Maloney said.

“L.A. Cellular never enjoys playing the role of tax collector, but we’re always happy to work with local municipalities,” Maloney said.

Opponents said the tax would send a negative message to Culver City businesses. During the next council meeting, Vera said, he will ask the council to shelve the idea for six months, saying that the timing for the tax proposal was poor.

“You don’t raise taxes right after balancing a budget,” he said.

In the meantime, he said, he would seek alternatives. “I would go after some of those fat (administrative) salaries before taxing people.”

He added that representatives from the Sony studios on Washington Boulevard have complained. A spokesperson for Sony could not be reached for comment.

Vera also said that because the city has balanced its budget, the need for additional revenue is not crucial.

Gourley countered that, based on the experience of the other cities, the tax is an ideal revenue source. He is confident that the proposed ordinance will be approved on the next vote.

“Everyone else is taxing,” he said. “So why not do it here instead of letting Los Angeles take it away from us?”

Other utilities taxed by the city includes gas, electric, telephone, water and cable television.